Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director – Housing and Revenues

The Assistant Director – Housing and Revenue submitted a report (previously circulated) updating Members on the health and safety compliance standards for Council housing stock and performance against these in 2022-23.

It was reported that the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) sets a number of consumer standards, which social housing providers must comply with; and the Council has well established and robust processes in place to monitor health and safety compliance in relation to its Council housing stock.

The submitted report provided details of the areas where compliance was monitored on a regular basis, including asbestos, electrical, gas, fire, fire door and water safety,  and damp and mould.

Particular reference was made to the legal requirements set out in the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 in respect of fire door safety; Members were informed that whilst there were no specific issues with the existing fire doors within the Council’s housing stock, due to the age of the doors and the lack of certification in relation to any previous installation and testing, the Council deemed the fire doors as not compliant with the new regulations; and as part of the door replacement programme, 236 blocks and approximately 1,200 doors affected by the new regulations would be replaced.

Reference was also made to the Stock Condition Survey undertaken in 2022-23, which identified that of the 10 per cent of the Council’s stock surveyed (550 properties) by an external contractor, 5 had issues with condensation or ventilation not working and 8 had signs of damp and mould (or 1.5% of the properties inspected), although none of these were classed as serious hazards; and that the Council had recruited its own Stock Condition Surveyor who would carry out a rolling programme of stock condition surveys on 100 per cent of Council homes. 

Members commended the work of the housing team in relation to damp and mould; discussion ensued regarding the procurement process in respect of the door replacement programme; and recruitment and retention of Gas Safe Engineers.

Members requested further details regarding the number of Council properties containing asbestos, the number of incidents whereby legionella was identified in a Council property; and the structure of the stock condition survey team.

RESOLVED – (a) That the contents of the report be noted.

(b) That this Scrutiny Committee continues to consider reports on health and safety compliance in Council Housing on an annual basis.